[Hidden-tech] Visual brainstorming service?

[Bruce Hooke]

Hi Marcia,

If a single photograph feels like a could be a suitable solution to the
cover, one option is for you to browse through sources like Shutterstock
until you find a picture you like and then pay someone to "flesh" that out
with the necessary words and so on. I sold rights to one of my photographs
to an author who then hired a designer to make it into a book cover design.
However, not all books are right for a photograph cover. 

If the designer who did the covers you do not like has a great portfolio I
would at least consider taking another try at working with him. One thing
that can help a designer create something that makes you happy is if you can
point to examples (of book cover designs in this case) that you think are
really good. A good designer will not copy the designs. What they will do is
use the designs to understand what appeals to you. 

Hiring one person to start a design and another to finish it gets tricky. I
know that if I was one of the two designers it would get tricky working out
whether I would want my name on something that I did not fully create.

If you can reveal the subject of the book maybe the Hidden-Tech community
could be your brainstorming team. See what ideas people come back with and
see if anything clicks with you.

Good luck,
Bruce

-----Original Message-----
From: hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net
[mailto:hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net] On Behalf Of Marcia
Yudkin
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2012 6:57 PM
To: hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
Subject: [Hidden-tech] Visual brainstorming service?

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Hi all,

I have a dilemma that I wonder if any design-oriented people on the list can
help with.

I have a book cover designer who does great work if I give her a concept to
work with.  I am working on a new book that needs a cover and I don't have a
good idea of how to illustrate its central idea in a way that avoids
cliches.  

So I hired a different cover designer (cheaper) who had a terrific
portfolio, thinking that if he created something I liked I could have her
flesh it out and I'd pay both and give them both credit.  (I hope there's
nothing unethical there, but if so I'm sure someone will let me know about
that.)  However, this guy's concepts were all disappointing.  From our
ensuing discussion, I learned that what he did was go hunting on
Shutterstock, using the most obvious keyword, and chose three images
categorized under that keyword and combined each with the book title and
byline, in three separate design ideas, to show me.  

Jeez, I could have done that myself!  I was really disappointed.  What I
hoped he would do would be to brainstorm ideas and then find stock images
and combine or use them in unobvious ways.  In addition, I was appalled at
the possibility that I might have ended up using an image on my cover that a
million other people had used in much the same way - because it was listed
under the core keyword.  Worst of all, when he found I wasn't happy with his
concepts, he asked me to tell him what I wanted... which was why I had hired
him in the first place, because I didn't have a good visual idea.  (Images
are not my strong point.)

So I am wondering if there are designers who offer a service of
brainstorming visual ideas that can form the core of something like a book
cover, without actually executing the actual cover in detail.  For someone
with the right kind of creativity, this is something they could toss off in
half an hour, I imagine.  

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Marcia Yudkin
www.yudkin.com
Goshen
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